Many of the clothes, including outfits by Dolce & Gabbana and Giorgio Armani, have been held in storage since Houston's My Love Is Your Love tour in 1999. The singer has since been troubled by drug abuse, marital and financial problems.

Also being auctioned in New Jersey next week are a £150,000 Schimmel acrylic grand piano, drum kits, keyboards, sound equipment, a multi-tier concert stage set, an elevator and a forklift. Houston's corporation Nippy Inc has failed to pay bills for the storage facility Speed of Sound since 2005, forcing the firm to apply for a court order to auction the contents.

Speed of Sound's lawyer, Jeffrey Campisi, said of Houston's legal adviser: "He's been very cooperative, but he doesn't have a cheque to write us."

Houston's spokeswoman, Nancy Seltzer, said she had no knowledge of any outstanding storage fees. "She is selling equipment, as many artists do, that is out of date," and stagings and costumes that are "not needed any more," she said.

The auction is set to prove an embarrassment for Houston. Auctioneer Steve Newmark said: "There's some pretty personal stuff in there. Even her underwear is in there. I was marvelling at the waist of some of these (clothes). They were pretty small."

Houston, 43, made history in 1985 when her self-titled album, containing the singles Saving All My Love For You and Greatest Love Of All, sold 13 million copies worldwide, a record debut for a female artist at the time. The album has since grossed 24 million sales.

She filed for divorce last year from R & B singer Brown after a 14-year marriage marked

by drug and alcohol abuse and domestic violence. Photographs of crack paraphernalia in her squalid home were taken by her sister-inlaw Tina Brown and published.

The singer has since been working on a comeback album and recently made a number of public appearances, but she continues to struggle with long-standing financial problems. Her Atlanta home had been threatened with repossession and the sale of another home was cancelled after she agreed to settle £500,000 outstanding mortgage payments.